The People Building a Way to Slow Down the AI Race

Time magazine reports that engineers from a company called Amodo Design are piloting a monitoring system for data centers, with the aim of helping to slow the AI race. The article, titled 'The People Building a Way to Slow Down the AI Race,' describes this as a practical effort to introduce verification into AI development. It also cites an open letter signed by more than 1,300 employees of frontier AI companies, warning that AI may soon become uncontrollable. The piece profiles these engineers as part of a small field attempting to create checks on AI progress.

According to the article, fewer than 50 engineers worldwide work full-time on AI verification tools. This number is presented alongside the scale of the open letter's signatories, highlighting a perceived gap between concern and dedicated effort. Amodo Design's system is described as a monitoring pilot for data centers, though the article does not provide technical details of the system. The piece notes that the monitoring system is aimed at helping to slow the AI race, with the engineers' work framed as a countermeasure to industry momentum.

The article frames these efforts as an attempt to introduce more caution into the AI industry's development pace. The open letter and the monitoring system are presented as responses to concerns about the future controllability of AI. The article reports that fewer than 50 engineers worldwide work full-time on verification, while more than 1,300 employees signed the open letter. No regulatory or policy changes are mentioned in connection with these efforts, which remain at the pilot stage.